"Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece."
Director Guillermo Del Toro caught everyone by surprise with this beautiful, intelligently crafted film. After directing the so-so hits Blade II and Hellboy, no one could have expected a movie of this calibur from him.
His creativity and imagination in this film will spellbound you. If you are familiar with del Toro's The Devil's Backbone, then you will know how much he cares for detail and character development.
In this film, Young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) along with her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) have to go stay with her stepfather, the menacing Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). In order to escape the cruelty of the real world, Ofelia constructs, or so it seems, an imaginary world where a magical kingdom and fantastical creatures await her. It will be up to the viewer to decide if the imaginary world exists or not.
The performances in this film are excellent. Ivana Baquero as Ofelia really captures the innocence of childhood, while Sergi Lopez is brutal as Captain Vidal. Also, Doug Jones mesmerizes us once again by playing Pan and also the Pale Man (Jones is also known from the Hellboy series as Abe Sapien). Anyone that has seen this film will tell you that the Pale Man scene is arguably the most intense and terrifying scene in this film. The rest of the cast is very good as well, including Maribel Verdu as the servant Mercedes.
Another thing to note is that the cinematography for this film won the Oscar for 2006. It definitely deserved it as all the scenes and imagery were beautiful to behold. Other Oscar wins were for Make-Up and Art Direction. That alone should make you want to experience this film!
Overall, I seriously recommend this film to fans of fantasy, horror, or foreign films. Be warned though, it is in Spanish with English subtitles, but don't let that ruin it for you. Go watch this amazing film already!
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